268 Annals nf the South AfrirMn Museum. 



co-ordiuates the same t<i all the rest of the family, instead of the 

 siugle SL-lysiau " Lt'gious." 



The subordiuatiou of tlie genus Ghlorolestes to the Lestiiiae means 

 au innovation of considerable taxonomic importance. Chlorolestes 

 figures to this day in the Sclysiau " Legion Podagrion " — a group 

 not otherwise represented in the fauna under discussion. The 

 distinctive feature of Lestiitae has been, to the present time, the origin 

 of MS and Bs* near the ai cuius, as in most or all of the Caloptery- 

 gidae. With this character as a leading one, Chlorolestes would not 

 fall under the Lesiinae, since the origins in question are (apjjai'eutly 

 or truly, as it may be) in Chlorolestes in the jiodal region, much like 

 the inimeuse majority of Acjrionulae. But Needham has already 

 ascertained that the proximal origin of Rs in Lestes is not real but 

 apparent, the real Bs being marked by an oblique vein, whereas the 

 part proximal to that oblique vein is a " bridge " — a very long one, but 

 otherwise corresponding in position to the bridge of Aiiisoptera. The 

 same oblique vein exists in Chlorolestes, as Mr. Herbei t Campion, of 

 London, has first suggested in las correspondence to the writer. Tiie 

 same oblique vein also exists in the Australian genus Si/nlestes, tlie 

 only one which may be reasonably claimed as a very close ally to 

 Chlorolestes ; and for Synlestes Mr. E. J. Tillyard has not only 

 discovered the existence of the important oblique vein, Init also 

 ascertained the absolute coincidence of wing tracheation in ontogeny 

 with the facts illustrated for Lestes by Prof. Needham, besides other 

 Lestine affinities in the Si/nlesteg larva. With this evidence in view, 

 we believe there can be little doubt that the true position of Chloro- 

 lestes is with the Lestivae. The form of quadrilateral and Cu point 

 in the same direction, as does the general facies of Chlorolestes. Thus 

 even now, although our knowledge of tracheation and ontogenv in 

 zygopterous wings is still fragmentary, the removal of Chlorolestes 

 from the " Legion Podagrion " to the Lestinae may be proposed with 

 a fair possibility of it being on right lines. The guides for the 

 systematic position and definition of Lestinae are now the oblique vein 

 and corresponding bridge, of which there is no evidence known to (he 

 author in all the rest of the AijrioniJue. 



LESTES (Leach, 1815). 



The cosmopolitan genus is fairly rejireseuted in South Africa, and 

 a large number of species are described from the Ethiopian region. 



* Rs is here aijplieil as generally accepted in terminolog-y ; reg^ai-diug tlie 

 real nature of this vein in Zyg'optera, see p. 257 ante. 



